Blinds, Fetch Drill, Marks and Blinds

[Note: Lumi, Laddie, and I continue to train on the same sort of schedule as always, about twice a day, and at the same venues. In addition, I've kept training notes on most sessions. But thanks to new responsibilities in my consulting practice, I have had to make choices about what activities to drop from my schedule, and keeping up this blog was one activity I found it necessary to curtail. Perhaps someday I'll have time to go back and update the blog with my old notes.]

Summary

In the morning at Oaks Area 3:

• Series A. Double blind at 100-140 yards, OD with no markers (both dogs)
• Series B. Fetch drill (Laddie only)

In the afternoon at Sundown Road Park:

• Series C. Two marks and three blinds (both dogs)
• Series D. Fetch drill (Laddie only)

Background. Recently, I interpreted a remark from another trainer as the recommendation that I not combine marks and blinds in a single series too often, so that the dogs could focus on one kind of retrieve at a time. I've been following that recommendation for several days, setting up most series for Lumi as single or multiple land blinds.

However, when I mentioned the idea to Alice Woodyard in private correspondence, she wrote back disagreeing, and saying that in fact no single drill was more beneficial to a Hunt Test competitor than marks and blinds combinations.

I had also stopped running Laddie on blinds recently, since he's competing at Junior level and does not require handling at that level. Again, Alice cautioned that his understanding of the concepts we've worked so hard to train would decline. Since Laddie already has the first two ribbons, and could complete his Junior Hunter title as soon as this weekend, he'll need handling again almost immediately.

As a result, I decided to reverse both of those trends immediately, and this afternoon set up a relatively easy combination in Series C to try both dogs out on.

Series C. Left to right within a 120° angle:

• #4: 100-yard blind, OD and SF
  
• #3: 70-yard mark, WD from RL, TTL of #4
• #5: 150-yard blind, OD and SF
• #2: 100-yard mark, WD from RL, TAL of #1
• #1: 120-yard blind, OD and SF

Laddie slipped one sit and I walked out to him. He saw me coming and ran to me, put his head in his slip lead, and we returned to the SL. He didn't slip another whistle. Perhaps the walk-out will work as well on Laddie as it has on Lumi.

Lumi took one WSC on #1. She lined #4 and #5. Apparently this set up was too easy for her, though it may still have benefited her by refreshing her of a common requirement: to drive past the old falls of marks when sent out on a blind slanting at an angle from those old falls.